I'm home doing productive things today... like playing Guitar Hero III (the best GH, by a kilometer). It's been forever, and after partying with Rock Band for several hours Friday night, I experienced renewed zeal. (That, and our pastor threatened yesterday to enter me in a Guitar Hero contest at a local restaurant).

Last time I played, I worked straight through the first 6 levels on "Hard" and finally failed a song on Level 7 ("3's and 7's", ironically), thus ending my band's brilliant (and short-lived) career. drmellow has been stuck on that level for a while, so I hadn't exactly been holding out hope that I'd be back on tour anytime soon.

However, I picked up my axe earlier today and decided to check out "Expert" on QuickPlay, for kicks. Not bad. In fact, I popped out some pretty consistent 4- and 5-star performances on the first few levels. It was time to revive my career.

I blew through the rest of Level 7, rocked a 5-star performance on the encore, and opened up Level 8--which revealed my all-time favorite guitar song. The pain of "3's and 7's" was well worth the payoff. It must have been the power of Xavier's hair.

Excuse me, I must now go battle for my soul.

Update: I crushed the Level 8 songs on the first try. With the exception of "One". 83%. Aaargh. How fitting: It's the only song standing between me and finding out the final encore.